The Saudis have had access to the phone from the CEO of Amazon Bezos: the chief of security of Bezos

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Security chief Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos said on Saturday that the Saudi government had access to Bezos' phone and obtained confidential information.

Gavin De Becker, a long-time security consultant, said he concluded his investigation into the January release of text messages filtered between Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, a former television presenter with whom National Enquirer's tabloid, Bezos, was dating.

Last month, Bezos accused the newspaper's owner of trying to blackmail him with the threat of publishing "intimate photos" that he sent to Sanchez, unless he publicly declared tabloid do not have political motivation.

In an article published on the Daily Beast website, De Becker said that the parent company of National Enquirer, American Media Inc., had privately asked the latter to deny having found any evidence of "eavesdropping." or hacking as part of their information gathering process ".

"Our investigators and several experts concluded with great confidence that the Saudis had access to Bezos' phone and obtained confidential information," De Becker wrote. "To date, it's hard to know how much AMI knew about the details."

A spokesman for the Saudi Embbady in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In February, the British Foreign Minister said that Saudi Arabia had "absolutely nothing to do" with the reports of the national investigator on the case.

A representative of AMI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. AMI previously stated to have acted legally in reporting the history of Bezos.

De Becker stated that he had communicated the findings of his investigation to US federal officials, without giving further details.